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Áine: The Irish Sun and Moon Goddess

Merry Summer Solstice to ye all! Let us honor this Irish Goddess between the light of the sun and the darkness of the night . Celebrate with fire and water and find the balance in your own life!.....Áine(Irish
for "brightness, glow, joy, radiance; splendour, glory, fame") (Irish
pronunciation: [ˈaːnʲə] ) is an
Irish goddess of summer, wealth and sovereignty.)She is associated with
midsummer and the sun and the moon, and is sometimes represented by a red mare,
which lead us to associate her with the belief in the Goddess Epona and
Rigantona, regarding her Moon Goddess aspect She is the Mother Goddess
associated to fertily and is the Maiden aspect of a Triple Goddess.

Her
solar associations, refer to her mainly with the morning light and the dawn of
the year, quite evident in traditional
beliefs, that depicts her as the wife or daughter of of the sea god Manannán
mac Lir., noticing that at each and
every dawn “she rises up from bed” (the Sea).

She
is the daughter of Egobail, the sister of Aillen and/or Fennen, and
is claimed as an ancestor by multiple Irish families. As the goddess of love
and fertility, she had command over crops and animals and is also associated
with agriculture.

About
seven miles from Áine’s hill, Cnoc Áine (Knockainy) in County Limerick,
is the hill of the goddess Grian, Cnoc Gréine. Grian (literally,
"sun") is believed to be either the sister of Áine, In County
Limerick, this pre-Christian belief on the Goddess was transmogrified ad she is
now remembered as Queen of the fairies. It is said that she even sometimes took
animal form, as a red mare, in order to walk among her people.

Many
stories sprung up around the belief that Aine often turned herself into a fairy
in order to mate with mortal men. This was oftentimes done by enchantment
rather than by mutual consent. Spellbound by the goddess, these men were said
to do whatever she commanded.

In
any case, Aine was quite popular with the Irish people. In fact, her fame
spread so far that it eventually reached the Western Isles of Scotland.
During summer time people lit torches of hay upon her hill of Cnoc Aine,
carried them around the hill in a counterclockwise direction, and conveyed them
home, bearing them aloft through their fields, while they waved the blessed
fire over livestock and crops.

Another
of Áine's manifestations, or possibly "Macha in disguise".Due to Áine's connection
with midsummer rites, involving fire and the blessing of the land, recorded as
recently as 1879. it is possible that Áine and Grian may share a dual-goddess,
seasonal function (such as seen in the Gaelic myths of the Cailleach and Brighid) with the two sisters representing the
"two suns" of the year: Áine representing the light half of the year
and the bright summer sun (an ghrian mhór), and Grian the dark half of
the year and the pale winter sun (an ghrian bheag).

She
is also associated with sites such as Toberanna (Irish: Tobar Áine), County Tyrone; Dunany (Irish: Dun Áine), County Louth; Lissan (Irish: Lios Áine), County Londonderry; and Cnoc Áine
near Teelin, County Donegal.

In
early tales she is associated with the semi-mythological King of Munster, Ailill Aulom, who is said to have
"ravished" her, an affair ending in Áine biting off his ear - hence
"Aulom", meaning "one-eared". By maiming him this way, Áine
rendered him unfit to be King, thereby taking away the power of sovereignty.The
descendants of Aulom, the Eóganachta, claim Áine as an ancestor.

In
other tales Áine is the wife of Gearoid Iarla. Rather than having a consensual
marriage, he rapes her (thought to be based on the story of Ailill Aulom), and
she exacts her revenge by either changing him into a goose, killing him, or
both. Thus the FitzGeralds also claim an association with
Áine; despite the French-Norman origins of the clan, the FitzGeralds would
become known for being "More Irish than the Irish themselves."

Áine
is sometimes mistakenly equated with Danu as her name bears a superficial
resemblance to Anu. "Aynia", reputedly the most powerful fairy in
Ulster, may be a variant of the same figure.

Lough
Gur is strongly associated with fertility. According to local legend, every
seven years the lake decreases revealing a wonderful tree of Another World that
has the power to rejuvenate the whole earth.

She
was worshiped at the Summer Solstice, Not surprisingly, Aine is also linked
with the fertility of the land. Because of her associations with fire and
water, she was also associated with healing. It was believed that she regulated
the vital spark of life's fire, which, like the sun's daily traversal of the
sky, circulated through the body every 24 hours. If bloodletting occurred on
her sacred days, which were the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday prior to
Lughnasadh, it was thought the sacred life spark would flow from the body and
the patient would die.

Aine
is therefore associated with both the life-giving sun itself, and the sun's
power in the human body, through which the spark was thought to travel by means
of the blood. These folkloric remains point to the fact that in days past there
must have been a full, rich tradition of healing in which Aine - as the spark
of life, the sun-spark within the blood - played a significant part.

The Luar Na Lubre Connection

"Uah Lua"

Luar Na Lubre

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Luca Tarlazzi - Ilustrator

Il Druido Bianco

Try Dyn ynt Gogyfurdd,Brenin, Telynior, a Bardd.Tair unben gerdd y dydd,Prydu, Canu Telyn, a dywedyd Cyfarwyddyd.Three men of equal rank,a King, a Harpist, a Bard.Three essences of the song, to versify, to play the harp, to recite history.